Just a Kiss
by WriterFreak001
Summary: Just something I cooked up after watching the first Scorpion S2 promo. :)
1. Part 1

**WriterFreak001:**

This story is solely based on the promo for 2x01 "Satellite of Love." If you don't like spoilers, I don't recommend reading this story.

* * *

 **Title** | Just a Kiss

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Just something I cooked up after watching the first Scorpion S2 promo. :)

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated T for romantic themes. Enough said.

 **POV** | Omniscient Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Just a Kiss**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part 1**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Paige was completely restless; her fingers tapped loudly and incessantly against her desk as she stared into the soul of her computer screen. Cabe had called everyone, telling them he had been reinstated as a Homeland Security agent, wanting everyone to meet up at the garage by ten so he and the new director of Homeland can go over the details. The whole gang, except for Walter and Cabe, were present and were all waiting in their own way for the remaining members of the team to make their appearance. And for reasons she cared not to admit, Paige was _very_ agitated about seeing Walter again.

Because Scorpion's income wasn't the greatest since Cabe's resignation from Homeland, Paige took on her old job at the diner to make up for the loss of revenue. She worked odd hours, sometimes at night, sometimes in the morning and sometimes all day. She believed her boss, Nemos, was overworking her to make up for quitting her job many months ago. Working as a waitress again reminded her how stressful her job as Scorpion's liaison was compared to bussing tables and taking people's orders. She thought she would like having a break from her endless hectic life with Scorpion, but she missed the action, the silliness and the adventure.

But most of all, she had missed Walter.

Because of his accident, he, too, was taking a break from saving the world. He was busy recovering from his injuries, and while she _did_ make a few trips to the garage every now and then to check up on him, their meetings were brief (mainly because she had to race to the diner for a shift or because his pain meds were making him drowsy), and they never had time to talk about their fight or their moment at the cliff.

It's possible they'll never have the chance, too.

But for some reason, she could hardly contain her anxiety as she waited for Walter O'Brien to walk through the front door. Perhaps it was because they would be spending more than twenty minutes inside the same room together, or it's because the afterthoughts of her kiss were finally catching up to her; she didn't know. She wasn't sure she _wanted_ to know, either. Today was also the first time she had seen Happy and Sylvester in weeks. Toby often babysat Ralph for her while she worked, and when the shrink was busy psychoanalyzing paying clients at his side-office, Cabe would watch over Ralph. While it's been a while since she'd seen Happy and Sly, she knew they, too, were very busy individuals. Happy had been employed as an extra mechanic at her father's auto shop, and Sylvester spent a lot of his time with Megan at the hospital. She felt bad for not checking up on them, but… with limited time available, what was she _supposed_ to do?

"Miss Dineen," Toby's casual and relaxed voice brought her out of her thoughts, forcing her to acknowledge his presence whether she really wanted to or not.

"Toby." Paige gave the shrink a pointed look.

Toby cracked his knuckles and leaned against the side of her desk. "You're unusually frantic on this fine, fine morning."

She forced a smile. "Too much coffee."

"While that _may_ be true due to your Nazi of a Former Boss overworking you at that overrated diner we once commandeered many centuries ago," Toby smirked and twirled his hat on his finger, "I'm not thinking it's the coffee that's making you constantly flick your eyes from your computer to the door every thirty-seven seconds. Do I sense a bit of anticipation for a specific super genius from my favorite translator?"

"Of course not." Paige answered almost too fast. She bit her lip and looked away from Toby for a split second before adding, "I mean, of course I'm anxious about Walter coming back. Everyone is. But what you're insinuating is strictly unprofessional and incorrect. I keep looking at the door because I'm wondering when Cabe's gonna get here."

Toby chuckled. "Sure you are."

"I am," Paige said defensively and quietly.

"If you were wondering why Cabe was taking so long, you'd subconsciously check your watch, not the door. If I'm being blunt," Toby crossed his arms and tried to hide his smirk, "whether you realize it or not, when you look towards the door, you're not looking for Cabe. You're looking for Walter. Cabe told you what time he was going to show up; it's not even 9:45 in the morning yet." Toby was having a lot of fun with this. Maybe a little _too_ much. "Sequentially, you would check the time if you were waiting for Cabe, not the door. Walter, however, said he'd be over as soon as his checkup with his doctor was completed, and that, my dear friend, bears no time limit. Checking your watch for Walter wouldn't make sense. Checking the _door_ , however, would."

Paige balked but quickly recovered and rolled her eyes. "You over-analyze things way too much, Toby."

"Hide behind your brick wall all you want, Paige; just remember," Toby grinned and pointed to his temple, "I know schtuff."

His comment received another eye roll from Paige as he strutted away from her towards the kitchen. Paige knew Toby was right about his analysis, but _he_ didn't have to know that. As she tried to make herself a little bit more productive by pulling out old casefiles to examine, the squeak of the front door caught her full attention, and she found _his_ dark brown eyes immediately, sending the man walking into the garage a small smile. She wasn't the first to react, though. As she rose to her feet to greet Walter, Sylvester beat her to it, pulling the genius into a big bear hug.

"Careful, Sly." Toby said from the kitchen, "Walt's still recovering from surgery; don't want to squeeze him to death."

Sylvester ignored the shrink and rocked his best friend side to side. "I've never been so happy to see you, Walter! So glad to have you back!"

Walter, with his good hand, patted Sylvester's shoulder blade and forced his response out through a tight, gravelly voice, "It's good to be back, Sly."

Sylvester squeezed Walter a little tighter for a few more seconds before releasing him; Walter had to bite his tongue to suppress an oncoming cough. Quietly, he dropped his backpack off at his desk and wheeled around towards the stairs, giving both Happy and Paige quick glances before looking at the group as a whole. "I'm going to go and change; I'll be back in five."

As he marched up the stairs, Paige considered following him, thinking he would need help getting changed as he had in the past. She remained still, though, for many seconds, wondering if following her boss to his private quarters was really a good idea; she wouldn't be _too_ worried about Walter's reaction since she's helped him change before, but she was certainly and undeniably mortified of Toby's possible response. He would never let her hear the end of it if he ever saw her making her way up to Walter's loft just seconds after her boss had announced to the team that he was going up there to change clothes. She bit her lip and weighed her options carefully; if she didn't go up there, Walter could hurt himself while trying to change. If she did, she'd have to risk hearing an endless string of jokes and teases from Toby until he would find something new to mock. She pressed her glossed lips together and glanced at each of her friends. Happy was at her desk, pounding at a thin sheet of metal; Sylvester was engrossed with his computer (probably playing a virtual chess game), and Toby was whistling as he made breakfast in the kitchen.

She sighed and looked up the steps.

 _To the loft, it is._

With a spring in her step, she swiftly ascended the stairs and braced herself for any abrasive comments from the Peanut Gallery but received none. She hoped, for her sake (and for Walter's) that they didn't even notice her sudden departure.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Walter silently groaned as he tried worming his way out of his t-shirt without using his right hand; the task was certainly difficult, but it shouldn't be altogether impossible. He had most certainly tackled much more challenging tasks than what he was currently trying to do, but that small assurance didn't make the struggle any easier. In the past, he didn't really have to worry about changing his clothes; since he was at home all day and without company most of the time, he usually stayed in his sweats, only changing them when he absolutely needed to. Occasionally, whenever Paige would visit and check up on him, she'd help him with the buttons… with the zippers... with the typically simple things he wasn't able to do with his hand in cast, but now that the team had been reassembled, he didn't want to appear weak or useless. If he couldn't even dress himself properly, how would the team perceive him? Paige, thank God, was the only one who knew about his day-to-day struggles, and even though she hadn't been able to help him all of the time, he was certainly grateful for any hand she was able to lend during her brief visits - even if he didn't always gratify her.

As he continuously battled with his shirt, he really wished he had asked Paige to come upstairs to help him, but he didn't want to give others the wrong impression nor did he want to embarrass her. Asking Paige to accompany him to his private loft after announcing he need to change clothes would fuel Toby's insatiable need to comment on his relationship with Paige, which was another obstacle Walter desperately wanted to avoid.

Just as he was about to give up on the T-shirt and focus on his jeans, slow and evenly paced footsteps brought his attention to the opening between his bedroom and the living space as his saving grace mystically floated towards him. _Thank God._ "I figured you might need help," Paige said softly as she stopped in front of him and lightly smiled. "I would have followed, but…"

"You didn't want the team to insinuate incorrectly," Walter guessed, and she nodded curtly.

"Exactly."

"Good call." Walter swallowed. "And perhaps, once we're done up here, you should go downstairs first… and take something with you to make them think you came up here to fetch something in case you need some sort of alibi."

"Okay," Paige muttered as she slipped her fingers underneath the lip of Walter's shirt, gently tugging it over his head, "I'll do that." She slid the material off of him and tossed it to his bed before bending down to reach for his dark grey button-up. Without talking, Paige glided both sleeves over Walter's arms, carefully pulling his cast through his right cuff, and swiftly fastened the buttons. "There. Shirt's on."

"Thanks," Walter pursed his lips, unsure what else to say. It certainly wasn't the first time she helped him dress, and he doubted it would be the last, either. He was going to be wearing his cast for quite a while, and because he preferred Paige helping him dress over Toby, Sylvester or Happy, he didn't particularly mind. Plus, it was efficient (at least, that was the excuse he was always telling himself).

"Do you," she paused and looked towards his belt (or lower; he couldn't tell), "Do you need help with your jeans?"

Walter ran his left hand through his hair and awkwardly looked away from her. "If you don't mind..."

Without looking at him or saying anything, Paige unbuckled his belt, slid it out of its loops and dropped it onto the floor before working at the button above his zipper. He counted the seconds before he heard the zip and held his breath as she slowly slid his jeans down his legs. Even though it wasn't the first time she had removed his pants, he still couldn't get used to being so exposed to this woman; he wasn't sure he wanted to, either. Or maybe he did.

He couldn't decide.

Paige reached for Walter's slacks and pulled them up to his waist and buckled them quickly. She tried so hard to hide her blush, but she was hot and flushed all over. She had had dreams that started with her stripping Walter out of his clothes but for very different reasons.

She never thought the opposite would be such a turn-on.

She mentally slapped herself. Walter was her _boss_. Nothing more. But still... he was her rather handsome boss who obviously cared for her in ways that made her toes curl any time she thought about every kind thing he had ever done for her and her son...

To distract herself, she focused on securing Walter's belt around his waist and then rose to her feet. "After I fix your tie," Paige said as she reached for a striped, dull tie, "we'll be done here."

Walter nodded and gulped as her slender fingers grazed his shoulders. She softly bit her lip as she looped Walter's tie around his neck and mindlessly rested her palm over his chest once she was finished. "There," she muttered, "As good as new." As she turned to leave, Walter unconsciously clamped his palm over hers and wrapped his fingers around her hand. She slowly turned back to him and gazed into his eyes. "Yes?" She figured he needed something.

"Um," Walter let out a breath, "Thanks."

She smiled ear to ear. "You're welcome, Walter."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"Is it just me," Toby waltzed over to Happy's desk, "or does Paige seem to be acting a little weird."

"Weird how?" Happy glanced up from her project.

"Oh, I don't know… She was a little fidgety and snippy earlier, and every time I mentioned Walt's name, she bit her bottom lip." Toby latched his fingers behind his head and leaned slightly backwards. "That _has_ to be symbolic right?"

"You're the shrink," Happy blinked, "you tell me."

"Well," Toby hummed, "I do have the world's best instincts." He smirked and circled back towards his desk, wanting to check up on something. He remembered the night of Walt's accident. After the nurse shooed the team out of the room, Paige had stayed behind despite Walter's doped up state. Toby had a hunch that something happened that night, and Paige is too embarrassed to divulge. The hospital system was easy to crack, and when he pulled up Walt's security feed, he decided to display it on the monitors near Happy's desk. "I think," Toby grinned as he skipped towards Happy, "I think I figured out a way to find out why Paige is being so strange these days."

"How?"

"I have a hunch," Toby shrugged as Sly, who was also curious as to what Toby was about to show Happy, walked up behind the shrink and the mechanic.

Toby pointed to the screen, "This is Walt's hospital room the night of his accident. I'm trying to find the footage of the time _after_ we left."

"Why?" Sylvester steepled his hands as he stared at the monitor.

"Because something tells me Miss Dineen is keeping something to herself…. Something she doesn't want us all to know." Toby replied, keeping his attention forward.

"Should we really invade her privacy?" Sylvester frowned. "I mean, people keep secrets for reasons, Toby."

"Says the one who had been dating Walt's sister for three entire weeks before telling brother dearest about your romantic entanglement with Megan." Toby deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

"That's different."

"So are your socks," Toby mumbled.

"Hm?"

"Nothing," Toby sighed. "Oh!" He paused the video feed and pointed to the screen. "That's Paige!"

"Very good, nimrod." Happy feigned an impressed response as she rose to her feet and crossed her arms. "This feed better be worth it."

Toby played the feed and all three geniuses watched Paige speak to Walter. The audio feed wasn't the greatest so there was no sure way of telling what she was saying, but Paige Dineen visiting Walter with nothing but the moonlight illuminating her figure wasn't the most surprising detail of the video. In fact, Toby was growing a little bored until…

"HOLY SMOKES!"

"... _I'm_ v-very uncomfortable right now," Sylvester stammered as Toby's eyes popped open. Happy, however, remained as stoic as ever. She was a bit surprised, but the pull between her boss and her friend wasn't something new. She expected something like that would happen soon enough – just… not when Walt was unconscious.

"Paige Dineen," Toby was now grinning ear to ear, "You little vixen."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

This started out as a one-shot, but I think I'm going to give it at least three parts. :)

Let me know what you think! :D


	2. Part 2

**WriterFreak001:**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first part of this story! I am surprised by the turnout! :)

* * *

 **Title** | Just a Kiss

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Just something I cooked up after watching the first Scorpion S2 promo. :)

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated T for romantic themes. Enough said.

 **POV** | Omniscient Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Just a Kiss**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part 2**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

As planned, Paige descended the stairs by herself with a small jean jacket draped over her arm. After dressing Walter, he had handed her a denim jacket Ralph had purposely left in the loft last winter to have it at the garage in case he ever needed it; at first, she didn't want to take it since Ralph was the one who brought it up to the loft in the first place, but Walter reassured her she could hand it back to him tonight after everyone else was gone. Taking Ralph's jacket downstairs would be a believable story; she couldn't just return with something she wouldn't need or actually use. If anybody asked, all she needed to tell them was that Ralph had forgotten his jacket a few weeks ago and had asked her to retrieve it for him. And since she had been a very busy woman throughout the Scorpion hiatus, no one would question why she'd bring home her son's jacket after several weeks of leaving it there.

Unluckily for _her_ sake, _everyone_ noticed her walking down the stairs. Sylvester and Happy simply stared at her before returning to their projects, but Toby leapt from his chair and skipped towards her.

Oh great.

Toby was like a little kid jumping for ice cream anytime he saw the ice cream truck; he _never_ missed an opportunity. "Howdy, Lady Liaison," Toby smirked and leaned against the wall as Paige passed him and walked to her desk chair. He lifted an eyebrow and hopped to the side of her desk. "And just _what_ were you doing in Walt's loft while he was getting changed?"

"I was fetching Ralph's jacket," Paige said without looking at Toby while typing her password into her computer. She sometimes found it easier to get away with deception around Toby if she avoided eye contact and kept herself busy. "He left it here a few weeks back and asked me to get it for him."

Toby crossed his arms and blinked. "Why would a kid need a jacket in the summer?"

Paige momentarily paused what she was doing and inwardly swore. "I keep the house temperature cool during the evening," was her go-to response.

Toby saw past her lie, though. "And if I recall correctly, Ralphy-boy didn't leave that jacket up in the loft a few weeks ago; I saw that thing draped over the sofa last January and in the same spot when I came here to check on Walter last week. Unless Ralph has an acute sense for detail like Sylvester, I'm fairly certain that jean-jacket hasn't moved since December when he first brought it up there."

"He is right, Paige," Sylvester chimed in from his desk as he twiddled his thumbs in front of him, "I noticed that jacket draping over the sofa in the loft back in March and then again two months ago when I came to ask Walt something, and I am 98% sure that _that_ jean jacket has not moved a centimeter until this morning when you brought it down."

Toby gave Sylvester a weird wink and a thumb's up as Paige rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she wasn't going to deal with this right now. "I'm going to grab some more coffee."

As she abruptly left the office space and headed for the kitchen, Toby spotted Walter slowly climbing down the stairs, probably being overly cautious about falling. "How goes it, Grandpa?" Toby couldn't resist and didn't back down from the dirty look Walter immediately shot him, "Was Paige careful when she kis – dressed you?"

Walter cocked an eyebrow as he briskly past Toby and headed towards his desk. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Toby smirked. "Oh, really?"

"Nope. No idea. Now, if you please, I have some things I'd like to do before Cabe shows up." Walter only looked at Toby for a few seconds before booting up his computer. "Go psychoanalyze Happy; whether I like it or not, you seem to enjoy watching her."

"Walter O'Brien," Toby circled around the super genius's desk, leaned over the man's shoulder and lowered his voice without changing his amusement, "Are _you_ , Mr. Work-Entanglements-Are-Bad-For-Business, actually giving me your blessing?" He paused, "Not that _not_ having one would keep me from pursuing Happy…."

"If you want to call it a… blessing, then fine. Sure. Pursue away." Walter answered quickly before adding, "Just… _if_ your pursuit is ever successful, please refrain from all kinds of PDA on the field and at the garage."

Toby touched his chest and feigned shock. "Me? PDA? Never. Besides," he looked over to Happy and then back at Walter, "my pursuit _will_ be successful. It just needs time. _Happy_ needs time, and I'm willing to wait for an eternity before she realizes I'm her man."

Walter grimaced. "Okay. You can go now."

"With pleasure," Toby grinned when he spotted Paige returning to her desk. "Just one thing…"

"What is it," Walter sighed and rubbed his temple as he, too, noticed Paige before looking up at Toby with an annoyed look.

"I usually don't get in the middle of things," Toby started but paused as Walter lifted an eyebrow. "Hey, I only get involved when I see fit, and Walter," he leaned closer to the super genius and lowered his voice again, "when a guy like you likes a gal like Paige but won't do a damn thing about it, then yes, I'm going to get _very_ involved, but that's beside the point." He gave Walter a pointed look and waggled his finger in front of him, "If you want proof that Paige feels something for you, then hack into my computer and pull up the video I left up. Make sure the time-stamp is roughly 8:06 PM and have your earphones hooked in. I don't think this would be something you'd like to broadcast to everyone… even though _everyone_ but you, Paige and Cabe have seen it."

Walter frowned. "If you think I'm going to –"

"Just watch the video. Or don't. I don't care. But if you're curiosity cat hasn't been killed yet, then take a risk and watch the damn thing." Toby threw up his arms and rolled his eyes as he left to pester Paige a little bit more.

Walter, who _was_ a little bit curious, checked his watch and noted the time. 9:37 AM. He still had some time left before Cabe was scheduled to show up. Without another word, he opened a drawer, pulled out a set of headphones and headed for the stairs, wanting some privacy in case there was anything he needed to process by himself.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"So," Toby pranced up to Happy and grinned, "Walt gave us his blessing."

"Blessing for what?" Happy stopped what she was doing and let out a small breath as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Blessing to date," he winked. She rolled her eyes.

"Believe me," Happy crossed her arms in front of her and leaned towards him, "That's not happening, ever."

Toby leaned over to match her height, giving only inches of space between them. "Who's the gambler in this relationship?"

"There's no relationship." Happy didn't even blink.

"Yet." Toby smirked, deserving another eye roll from his one true love. He'd been getting a lot of those today, but he didn't care. As long as his psychoanalyses were effective was all he cared about. Happy returned to her project and mounted a paintball gun. "Oooo," Toby's eyes popped open. "I love paintball."

Happy suddenly had an idea and smirked, "Oh?"

"Yep. You're looking at the champion of paintball." Toby said proudly. "Perhaps we can take that puppy out and vandalize the side of the garage with it."

"It's a prototype." Happy ignored his side-comment and tightened a screw. " _Maybe_ I'll show you how it works sometime... If I feel like it."

"I'm flattered, Happy, really, but I'm certain I know how a paintball gun works." Toby chuckled and twirled his hat. "But thanks for the offer."

If he couldn't win Happy's heart by asking her out on a date, he thought about putting a little technique he liked to call reverse psychology to play. If he could make Happy jealous for not wanting to spend time with her, he just might make her jealous enough to ask _him_ out instead. It was… a delicate theory and… a work in progress and _definitely_ experimental, but he was willing to risk it anyway.

He made his way over to Paige to trick her into confessing about her little dirty deed in the hospital, but as he said her name, he heard a pop and then screamed at the top of his lungs.

Happy grinned as she touched her newly improved paintball gun. "It was a toy. Now it's a weapon."

Paige's mouth hung open as Toby pulled out the dart from his backside before marching over to Happy. "You shot me!"

"Correction: I shot the gun." Happy mused as she polished the barrel. "You just happened to be in the way."

"Oh boy," Paige rolled her eyes (once again) and shook her head before returning to her computer to work on some old case studies.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Walter didn't know what to think after hacking into Toby's computer and watching that video feed. At first, he thought his eyes were playing mind tricks on him, but after the fifth time of watching the surveillance video, he realized he wasn't imagining _anything_ he had witnessed. Before watching the video for the second time, he used an audio enhancer application to improve the audio quality and heard Paige's soft, heavenly voice saying something, but he couldn't make what she was saying. But… her words, whatever they were, weren't what threw him off every time he rewatched the file.

Paige had kissed him.

 _She_ had _kissed_ him.

Him. Walter O'Brien, paramount of all nerds.

He had spent minutes reviewing and assessing what he saw, but he didn't know what to make of it. Was he mad? Not too terribly so. Upset? Not really. Confused? Most definitely. Overwhelmed? Probably. Shocked? Absolutely.

Kissing him while unconscious would explain her strange behavior around him during their first encounter after the accident. It was the day of his release; Cabe was too busy with his new daytime job to drive him home; he couldn't rely on Sylvester; he refused to ask Toby because he _knew_ the shrink would have turned the car ride into a psych session, and he didn't particularly trust Happy to drive the speed limit. Paige… had been his only (and the most efficient) option.

It hadn't been _until_ she brought him home did she start acting a bit strange that day. Whenever he would ask a question, she would answer it, but she remained quiet otherwise – especially after she had helped him out of his clothes so he could wear something more comfortable. He didn't understand why she had kept stopping and asking him if it was all right to remove an article of clothing or to touch him, for that matter, but after the third or fourth time she had assisted him in changing his clothes, the feel of her fingers against his shoulders… his chest… his arms… naturalized; helping him change his clothes sort of became a routinely thing for them. She didn't assist him _all_ the time, but any time she visited, she would get him out of his clothes, dress him into something comfortable and sometimes do some laundry.

Before Walter could dwell more on the kiss, he heard Paige's light footsteps making their way to the loft. He started to panic and exited the video screen on his computer before grabbing a bunch of files into his arm to make it seem like he had been doing something productive. He didn't make it far from his desk before she was standing in front of him, looking at him strangely. He hadn't planned on what he was going to say to her about the kiss (if he was going to say anything at all), and he certainly didn't have enough time to process it, but there she was, somehow more beautiful than she was fifteen minutes ago, standing tall with her arms crossed in front of her. All he could do was stare at her.

He couldn't hear a single word she was saying.

"Walter?" Paige raised an eyebrow when she realized the man in front of her hadn't moved an inch as she spoke. His mouth was slightly open, and he was staring her with such intensity. She felt bare under his gaze, and was almost tempted to grab his tie and yank him down for a hot kiss, but she dismissed it and waved her hand in front of his face. "Walter, are you listening?"

He blinked and shook away his shock. "Huh? Did you say something?"

She laughed nervously and pointed back towards the front of his apartment. "I said: Cabe and Director Adriana Molina are going to be late. He just called and has a flat. He's going to call when the car is up and running again."

"Oh. Okay." Walter nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat. "That's… good news, I suppose."

"It's good news that they have a flat?" Paige's eyebrows lifted towards the ceiling.

"It's good news that all they _have_ is a flat." Walter pursed his lips, and Paige's expression softened the moment she understood his reference.

"Walter," Paige slowly approached him. Perhaps _now_ was as good as a time as any to talk about their fight many months ago. She started to apologize for snapping at him the night before his accident, but he quickly cut her off.

"Why'd you do it, Paige?" The words were out before he could stop himself.

Her eyes widened. "Do what?"

"K-kiss me," he stammered and cleared his throat, still holding his files against his chest. "Why'd you kiss me at the hospital?"

Paige's eyes were wider than ever. "How did y—"

"I hacked into Toby's computer and found surveillance he was hoarding… It's of… you saying things… and then kissing me," he let out a slow breath, adding, "while I was unconscious."

Paige's cheeks flared as she ran her hand through her hair. She never expected Walter to ever find out, and she sure as hell didn't remember seeing a video camera in the room…. "Um…, about that…."

"So you don't deny it?" He was quick to read her response, wanting to make full sense of the situation.

"N-no…."

Even though the evidence was clear, Walter found hearing her confirmation way more shocking than actually watching the video. He didn't know what to say to her; his mouth fell open again, and some of the papers he was holding against him fell to the floor as he gawked at her. Seeing it was one thing to Walter; videos could be tampered with…, but actually having his one source confirm everything made his world flip upside-down. He didn't know what to think anymore. He didn't know how to look at her anymore without thinking about the kiss… how he wasn't conscious to experience it… to feel it… to possibly enjoy it….

"But anyway," her sudden voice brought him back to reality, and he gave her his undivided attention, "i-it was just a kiss…. It was a hard, long day, and the exhaustion made me a little emotional…. Almost losing you was a difficult thing to process…. I wasn't really thinking logically, you know? And…," she was babbling now, "this job puts us in intense situations…. Emotions run high, and, well, sometimes things we really can't explain happen."

Walter, for the first time in his life, was feeling an odd, overbearing sensation in the pit of his stomach, and in spite of its strangeness, it was rather quite enjoyable. Pleasurable. He stared at her in complete awe and despite whatever explanation she was giving him, all he could think about were the facts: he was about to confess his feelings to her from the bottom of the cliff, and she had stayed by his side at the hospital, said some things and then kissed him.

Paige noticed the strange way Walter was looking at her. He almost looked uncomfortable… but cheery at the same time. She inhaled a deep breath and approached him slowly. "Are you mad?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "No. No. Not mad." He paused and then added, "Confused, maybe, but not mad."

"You're not?" Paige was overly relieved but shocked as well. She was sure he would think she had sexually assaulted him or something.

"No. Nope. Nope." He shook his head as he tried to wrap his mind around everything. He went for an explanation to help calm his nerves (and possibly hers as well). "Uh, had the situation been reversed, and _you_ were the one who had almost died and not me, I'd probably act on some sort of emotion, too."

"Oh?" Paige was suddenly and radiantly smiling, indicating that he had said something right. "And what would you _do_?"

He gulped and dropped the remaining files onto the floor.

He walked right into that one….

"Um, well," he started to say as she slid her arms around his neck and inched closer to him, "I'd, uh, I'd," his words betrayed him as she combed her fingers through his curly hair and breathed hot breaths against his chin, "I'd…"

"HEY ROMEO AND JULIET!" Toby called from below, instantly forcing them apart, "CABE JUST CALLED! HE AND DIRECTOR MOLINA WILL BE HERE IN FIVE!"

Walter coughed and scratched his neck as Paige whirled around to hide her flushed face. _Oh God_ , both of them thought, _we almost…._

"I'm, uh," Paige pointed towards the Walter's door and glanced at the man behind her, "I'm going to make sure Director Molina isn't greeted with disrespect when she arrives…."

He cleared his throat and recovered his composure. "Yeah. Right. Good. Sounds good. Sounds very, very good. Very, _very_ good." Walter flashed her an 'okay' sign with his fingers and cleared his throat again. "I'll just…," he ran his hand through his hair, "I'll be down momentarily."

"Okay," Paige bit her lip, gave Walter one last look before teetering her way towards the door, unaware of the intense stare Walter was giving her.

He sighed.

Toby had the worst timing ever.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

Yeah, I'm thinking this story will be more like… four or five parts. I'm enjoying this story so much, though. I hope you are too! Let me know what you think! Feedback is very important to me. :)


	3. Part 3

**WriterFreak001:**

Sorry for the minor delay in posting this installment. I got a new car today so it's been a crazy day. Anyway, for those of you who follow _Poaching_ , I will resume that story when I am finished with _Just a Kiss_. I am unsure of how many parts this story will have, but I hope you don't mind waiting. ;)

PS. As far as the case itself and how Team Scorpion _actually_ recovers the falling satellite, I have no idea how it will happen in the episode. I am making parts of the case up as I go (i.e. solutions), but fair warning; I have no fracken clue if my solutions will actually work. I am not a science person so anything I include is either heavily researched or is suspending your disbelief. For the sake of this story, suspend your disbelief, please. :)

* * *

 **Title** | Just a Kiss

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Just something I cooked up after watching the first Scorpion S2 promo. :)

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated T for romantic themes. Enough said.

 **POV** | Omniscient Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Just a Kiss**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part 3**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

"So," Walter shifted the weight on his feet perceptibly and folded his arms slowly, "I understand the severity of the situation, but," he first glanced at Cabe and then the new director, "if you want us to stop a nuclear powered satellite from detonating over southern California, then we're going to need every resource available and at our disposal."

"Our hands are tied, so," Director Molina let out a short breath and straightened her back, "whatever you need… I'll make it happen."

"All right," Walter nodded and turned to Happy. "Happy, go with Toby and Cabe to Los Angeles Air Force Base; we want to stop the satellite in the air to prevent as many casualties as possible; subsequently, we're going to need the best sort of aircraft they have and are willing to sacrifice. The smaller, the better."

"On it," Happy jumped to her feet, grabbed her keys and led Toby and Cabe out the door.

Walter turned to Sylvester. "I need you to hack into the Russian Federal Space Agency and pinpoint the precise course of the satellite. Track its velocity, calculate its exact location for every hour and find out when it's destined to land. We'll need to intercept it ASAP."

Sylvester, with eyes as wide as a full moon, nodded swiftly. As he started walking to his desk, he turned towards Walter. "I'd prefer, if at all possible, to conduct my work in the nearest bomb shelter. I don't do well in nuclear explosions."

"Sylvester?" Walter spoke the man's name quickly and stoically.

"Yes?"

"Focus."

"Right." Sylvester gulped and slumped in front of his computer before tapping away on his keyboard.

Walter turned to the new director of Homeland. "Contact Director Steve Pulaski, the head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory – the NASA division in Los Angeles. We're going to need full cooperation with them; with their technology, they can track our projectile and ensure we are heading in the right direction. We might also need a transmitter; once Sly hacks into the mainframe of the Russian Federal Space Agency, I can analyze the diagnostics on the satellite and determine what sort of system it uses. If it's State-of-the-Art, then we can use a transmitter with a strong enough signal to _marginally_ redirect the satellite's path towards our aircraft. If not, then we'll _definitely_ need those exact coordinates so we can be sure to intercept the satellite in time."

Director Molina pulled out her phone and dialed the number for NASA, requesting to speak to Director Pulaski. "How about this; you talk to him and tell him exactly what you need."

Walter rolled his eyes. _Normals_. He extended his left hand impatiently. "Fine. Okay." In three minutes, Walter dutifully informed Director Pulaski the situation (which the director already knew about), and he listed everything his team was going to need. Director Pulaski offered a workspace for Scorpion at the laboratory, and Walter didn't hesitate to take his offer. NASA had better equipment and by using their computers, Walter wouldn't have to risk getting caught hacking into NASA again (though, he really could if he wanted; their firewalls haven't changed one bit since he was a boy).

"Walter," Sylvester looked up from his desk, "I got into the Russian Federal Space Agency and pulled up the schematics of the satellite. I've downloaded them and emailed them to the cloud server for you to access them from your computer." Sylvester rose to his feet and asked, "Is there something else you need me to do?"

"Yes," Walter quickly made his way to Sylvester, very aware of Paige's almost overpowering presence at her desk. She was patiently waiting for him to give her some orders, but he kept a safe distance from her, afraid he'd lose focus and fail all of southern California. "Save those schematics to a flash drive and go with Director Molina to the laboratory. Show the schematics to Director Pulaski and ask him to examine the blueprints as well as the trajectory of the satellite. With a high-risk situation on our hands, having a second opinion wouldn't hurt. I'll read over the schematics once I arrive there. There are still some things I need to gather before leaving."

"Okay," Sylvester said as he inserted a flash drive into his computer and downloaded all of the files he found. Once the download was completed, Sylvester removed the stick from his drive, grabbed his equipment and raced over to Director Molina.

Seconds later, the two were gone.

As Walter swiftly walked to his desk to gather his things, Paige, with arms folded in front of her, followed him and asked, "What do you need me to do?"

Walter paused for a moment, unsure if he should answer her question, but then added softly, "Take Ralph out of school and go as far north as you can."

"What?!" Paige exclaimed almost too loudly, "Are you insane?! There's no way in hell I'm leaving you guys again. Remember the last time?"

"Paige," Walter wrapped his fingers around her arm and pulled her to the side even though he really didn't have a need to be so secretive with no one else in the garage. "There's a small possibility we might fail; I c-can't," he closed his eyes briefly and focused on the words he needed to say, "I can't have you or Ralph within the vicinity of the satellite's intended target." In his own small way, he was trying to tell her how much she and Ralph truly meant to him.

And in her _own_ way, she was, too.

"We almost left the team once; we won't do it again." Paige refused to even _think_ about the possibility of leaving Walter again. She couldn't. She _wouldn't._

"Paige," Walter stared into her deep brown eyes and silently begged her to see the situation from his point of view. "Last time you almost left, you did it to keep Ralph safe. I didn't understand your position on the matter at the time, but now I do... If Ralph was _my_ son," he slid his hand to hers and squeezed her fingers, "I'd do what I could to keep him safe, too – even if the outcome... or the situation was unfavorable."

"We're not leaving," her voice cracked. She didn't know who she was trying to convince anymore. The safety of her son was her main priority, but she was completely, absolutely torn between her two options. And it would be too much to ask Walter to come with her; he had a duty to California… to the nation… to the world. "Walter," she let out a slow, shaky breath. "We can't leave. We _won't_ leave."

"Paige," Walter rested his left hand over her shoulder, "I'm _begging_ you to take Ralph and get him somewhere safe. I promise I won't get mad this time."

She didn't like it, but what choice did she have?

To save the world or to save _her_ world?

She closed her eyes and held back her tears. "Fine. Yeah. Okay." She stepped away from him, unable to look him in the eyes. "I've gotta get my things…."

As she sauntered to her desk and reached for her purse, Walter scrambled up to her and blocked her path to the door. "Walter," she spoke quietly, "If you want me to pick up Ralph from school and get the hell out of dodge, then I need to _go_."

"I know." Walter swallowed the lump in his throat. "There's just," his palm slid down to her hand and pulled her closer to him, "something I need to do first." He slowly inched closer with calculated moves, but Paige – emotional and daring Paige – was faster, capturing his lips into a heated kiss. She leaned into him, kissing him as hard as she could in case this was goodbye for good. If Walter O'Brien was worried he wouldn't make it… much less anybody else on the team, then she needed him to know how she felt. She poured every feeling she had for him into that one single kiss, and if this wasn't a time of great peril, she'd respond to the rainbows bursting within her or fireworks exploding in her chest as he kissed her just as passionately as she kissed him.

God, she kissed him and kissed him, not wanting to let him go… not wanting him to be the savior of the day… not wanting him to disappear from her for an indefinite forever.

If he could stop time or even slow it down, he would in a heartbeat. He didn't want her to leave as much as she didn't want to go.

But as they slowly remembered how time did _not_ stand still… how the world did _not_ actually blur around them… how everything surrounding them _could_ cease to exist by nightfall, Paige tore away from Walter and inhaled short breaths of air as she gazed into his coffee-colored eyes and touched her forehead to his.

"Paige, I…," he started, but she cut him off with a soft whisper.

"I know, Walter." She carefully cupped his face and pulled him down for a brief, passionate kiss. "Me too," she smiled. "Me too."

They stayed there like that – in each other's arms – for several more minutes, needing at least one moment of respite before leaving the garage and going their separate, possibly final, ways.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Walter arrived at the laboratory thirty minutes after leaving the garage and was caught up to speed by both Sylvester and Director Pulaski. Walter, before listening to the director's analysis of the satellite, examined the schematics himself. He needed a distraction and needed to work fast. When he was done, he compared his examination with Director Pulaski's findings and determined that one) the satellite was a 2013 model, two) a transmitter _would_ work and three) the satellite was destined to detonate in eight hours, giving them a slightly longer window of time than Walter originally theorized.

Eight hours would be plenty of time for Paige and Ralph to end up somewhere safe.

Thank God.

"Walter?" Sylvester twiddled his thumbs and circled around his friend, concerned for the genius's obvious distress. "Where's Paige?" He looked around just to be sure he didn't miss her, "She didn't want to come?"

"I gave her some orders. She won't be back for at least a few days," was all Walter was willing to say.

Sylvester, catching on, patted Walter on the back and said, "Good. I'm glad."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"Not a plane, you nimrods," Happy threw her hands up, ready to charge the military officer, "something small!"

"Cool it, Happy," Cabe barked and sent an apologetic look towards the officer. "Forgive her; she has a temper problem."

"If you just let me look around the premises, we could be out of your hair in minutes." Happy frowned and marched in circles. "We have a dire emergency on our hands, and all you military bozos give me is an old heap of junk." She pointed to the outdated B2 Bomber. "It's in terrible condition!"

Cabe flashed his temporary badge and gave the officer a pointed look. "There's a nuclear powered satellite headed towards southern California, and if we don't collect something to help us stop it, then _all_ of us will be dead in hours."

The officer gulped. "There might be… one thing."

"If it's not as small as your dick, then I'm not interested." Happy said, receiving an impressed look from Toby, a dirty look from Cabe and furrowed brows from the officer.

"She's only interested in _my_ dick," Toby smirked; he couldn't resist. She had left that door wide open for him. Happy elbowed him hard in the ribs in response.

"Don't make me shoot you again." Happy spat, and Toby automatically rubbed his backside. "I _will_ do it you know."

"Hey, Peanut Gallery!" Cabe bellowed, "Shut it!"

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Paige had Ralph strapped in the backseat of her car as she sped down the highway towards the exit to the interstate. She was trying her damn hardest not to think about what happened back at the loft, but memories of the kiss crept into her mind and made her feel things she didn't have time to feel. She needed to get her son to safety. _That_ was her priority.

"Mom?" Ralph, ever so quiet, caught his mother's attention, and she glanced up into the rear-view mirror to acknowledge him.

"Yes, honey?"

"Why are we leaving again? Are we going to Portland?"

"No, baby. We're just going north. There's a… situation..., and we need to get as far away as possible in case things go south," was all Paige would say about the satellite. She didn't want her son knowing about the dangers southern California now faced.

"How far north?" Ralph blinked.

"I don't know…." She honestly didn't know what was considered safe anymore.

"Mom?"

"Hm?"

"Does the situation have anything to do with the satellite crisis?" Ralph was now looking out the window and added, "I read something about it on the internet at school."

She sighed. "Yes, Ralph. Scorpion is working with NASA, Homeland and the Air Force to figure out how to intercept the satellite. Walter told me to take you as far north as I can in case… well, in case Scorpion can't do anything in time."

She expected Ralph to quietly nod, but he didn't. He looked back at her and said, "You should be there helping the team…. Helping Walter."

"I want to be, sweetie, but… your safety comes first." Paige's voice broke. "You need to know that I'd do anything to make sure you're safe."

He was quiet for a moment and then said, "Mom…?"

"Yes?"

"Scorpion saves everybody." She glanced at her son through the mirror. He was looking directly at her. "We save everybody."

And suddenly... she ordered her son to hold on as tires screeched and many cars honked until she and Ralph were back on the lane heading towards Los Angeles.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

I hope you enjoyed this one! :)


	4. Part 4

**08/31/2015 - This chapter has been revised and has different ending than the original writing. Please re-read. Thanks!**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

Before you read this chapter, I just wanted you to know that I did a little bit of revisions for the last three chapters if you would like to re-read them. The edits are minor, and the storyline will make sense whether you re-read them or not; I merely added a few more descriptions here and there as well as refurbished some of the dialogue. :)

Onto the next installment, now.

* * *

 **Title** | Just a Kiss

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Just something I cooked up after watching the first Scorpion S2 promo. :)

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated T for romantic themes. Enough said.

 **POV** | Omniscient Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Just a Kiss**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part 4**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

After Paige softly kissed her son's forehead and hugged him for several, long seconds, she told him to be careful and then reluctantly sent him back to school before telling him to mind his teachers and not to tell anybody _why_ he was taken out of class. The last thing Paige wanted was for her son to unknowingly cause a widespread of hysteria. She believed in Scorpion and knew… she just knew Walter – with whatever crazy plan he was concocting – would be successful.

He always was.

The moment her son was safely in his class, Paige hurried to her car and sped like crazy to get to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, knowing that at least Walter and Sylvester were going to be there, working on some sort of solution.

When she arrived, she immediately spotted Walter's Datsun sitting in the parking lot and shamelessly found herself smiling, thinking about the kiss they shared in the garage. Sure, under normal circumstances, the kiss probably wouldn't have happened, but both of them thought they would never see each other again. Even _if_ it had stemmed from dire circumstances, Paige – and hopefully Walter – regretted nothing.

Before entering the building, she said a silent prayer for the team. While some of them might not believe in a higher power, with what's going on, a little help from the supernatural couldn't hurt. Quietly, she slipped through the doors and asked the secretary where Scorpion was working, and the young man – probably a college student in need of a part-time job – pointed her in the right direction and gave her thorough instructions so she could find her team.

Eagerly, though a little nervous, Paige strolled down the hallway and took a left. She didn't need to remember the rest of the directions because she could hear Walter's loud, frustrated voice bouncing off of the walls from around the corner. She waited a minute to find out why Walter was yelling at – she dared to look down the hallway – Director Adriana Molina before intervening.

"I don't care what you think!" Walter balled his fingers into tight fists. "If you want us to save southern California, then don't contact the governor! All he'll do is make a state-wide announcement on TV, spreading panic everywhere. Traffic will gridlock, and my team won't be able to get where they need to be if everyone is trying to leave!"

"People have a right to know what's at stake!" the director of Homeland fired back. "In the event that your team fails, then people should make the necessary actions needed in order to leave while they can. It's not our call to rob them of that right."

"And I'm telling you," Walter's voice grew incrementally louder, "causing unnecessary panic will only slow us down; the less people who know about the satellite, the better." Walter was at his wit's end; he had tried reasoning with the woman for the past thirty minutes, but she wasn't listening to him. "All I am asking is for you to make a call and tell whoever's in charge to cancel or delay all flights in the southern Californian region. Make up a story for all I care; just don't tell them the underlining cause."

"You want me to lie?" Director Molina lifted her eyebrows and frowned. "Not happening."

Paige had heard enough; she hustled down the hallway and spoke before Walter had the chance. "Director Molina," Paige shook the woman's hand and ignored Walter's surprised stare. "Hi, I'm Paige; I work as Scorpion's liaison; I'm so sorry I'm late getting here." She briefly looked at Walter before smiling at the director. "I apologize, on Scorpion's behalf, if you've experienced any issues during your first day working with us; _some_ of us," she gave Walter a stern look, "have a hard time with other people so that's why I'm here."

"Pleasure…," Director Molina said slowly and cautiously. "You work for Mr. O'Brien?"

"Yes." Paige nodded curtly. "He asked me to do something, and that's why I'm late." She paused and folded her arms in front of her as she mindlessly stepped closer to Walter. "Anyway, I heard a little bit of your mild discussion with Walter and gathered that you're wanting to inform the governor of the situation down here, and Walter doesn't?"

"More or less," both Walter and the director said. The two of them shared distasteful looks before returning their attention to Paige.

"Right. Okay." Paige combed her fingers through her hair and gave the situation a thought. "For now, would it be too bothersome to do as Walter says and notify the CEO of air travel of what's going on?" Walter started to object, but Paige cut him off quickly. "And then, once he or she is aware of the situation, would it be too much to ask him to keep the details to himself? All of us don't want to, as Walter said, cause unnecessary panic, and I'm sure the director would understand and keep things confidential as this _is_ a governmental case."

Director Molina inhaled a deep breath and sighed. "I can do that."

"Thank you," Paige smiled gently. "And," she added with caution, "I know you want to help and inform the governor, and while I think it's important for citizens to know what's going on, I also know that Walter's right. I understand it's your job to notify Governor Lane of particular, threatening situations, but, if possible, could you wait until Walter and the rest of the team gets where they need to be?" Paige paused for a second and then added a second option for the woman. "Or, at least, give them a twenty minute head start?"

The tall, dark-haired woman sighed and gave Walter a stern look. "How long does your team need?"

"As soon as I hear from Happy, we'll need an hour." Paige could almost hear the gears turning inside his head and smiled to herself. "Fifteen-minute prep-time, a half hour for travel and fifteen minutes as a cushion time in case there's any unexpected delays." Walter answered quickly and correctly.

The woman exhaled a deep breath again and closed her eyes momentarily. "Fine," she was at a loss anyway. "The _second_ you arrive at the Air Force Base, I want to know about it." And without much else to say, Director Adriana Molina swiftly walked past Walter and Paige and pulled out her cell to make a call.

Paige, a little nervous, bit her lip and counted the seconds before…

"Why are you here, Paige?"

"I came back," she stared at the floor, refusing to look at the man.

"Why?"

"… Ralph told me to."

"Ralph?" Walter cocked an eyebrow. "Ralph told you to come back?"

"Yes."

"Wasn't he worried?" Walter asked, trying to understand _why_ the boy would want his mother to return to a dangerous case.

"No," she shook her head. "He wasn't."

"He should have been," Walter frowned. Now he wouldn't be able to focus, knowing that both Paige's and Ralph's lives were in danger.

"Well," Paige finally shot the man a pointed look, "he wasn't." She balled up her fists and stood her ground. "And you know why?"

He gulped. "Why?"

"Ralph isn't scared because he _knows_ Scorpion will succeed. He has such strong faith in you, Walter… in _all_ of you, and he firmly believes Scorpion will save everybody." She raked her fingers through her hair and blinked back an onset of tears. "Now, tell me, Walter. When my child tells me I need to be here… that the greatest thing he has ever believed in will conquer the impossible, how am I supposed to run away from all of that? How am I supposed to tell him that he might be wrong… that Scorpion might fail…?"

Walter stayed silent and slowly absorbed her hard, but true, words.

"My son _believes_ in all of you… in all of _us_." She carefully wrapped her fingers around his left hand and squeezed his palm. "I think it's time we start believing in us again too."

Walter stared at the way her warm hand was holding his and then gazed into her chestnut eyes before smiling. "He's a smart kid."

"He's learned from the best," Paige returned Walter's smile and grinned ear to ear.

Walter nodded and squeezed Paige's soft hand. "That he has."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

It was another twenty minutes before Toby – and _not_ Happy – called Walter and told him they had found an aircraft possibly suitable for the mission. Once all of the tech Walter needed was gathered, he and Paige left for the air force base, leaving Sylvester behind to help NASA with the technical front. The ride, the oh-so-awkward ride, to the military base was mostly quiet filled with occasional fleeting glances and silent shared remembrances of their first kiss.

It was the most passionate thing both of them had ever experienced, but it was the most haunting memory as well. Neither of them really knew where their relationship stood, and both of them didn't want to assume one thing over the other. But they knew, eventually, they would have to talk about it.

Not now, but eventually.

After going through the gate (which wasn't particularly an easy thing to do since neither Walter nor Paige were military officials), Walter quickly parked next to Cabe's squad car, begrudgingly called Director Molina (keeping his opinions about the intractable woman to himself) and then eagerly urged Paige to follow him. They ran towards a waving Cabe, and the newly reinstated agent led them to Toby and Happy. Toby, as expected, was just lying down on the ground with his hands latched underneath his head, and Happy was sitting down, holding a cold compress to her shoulder.

"Oh my God!" Paige exclaimed, predictably being the first to run up to the injured woman. "What happened, Happy?"

The mechanic pursed her lips and frowned, "Nothing."

Knowing she wasn't going to get anything out of Happy without trying to pull the words out of her teeth (which, even then, sounded like an impossible feat), Paige redirected her question to Toby. The shrink slowly sat up and stretched like a cat before answering her. "She'll be fine," Toby dusted off his pants, "She was reconfiguring something for the aircraft, touched something she shouldn't have with metal plyers and was shocked with electricity. Other than flying backwards and hitting her shoulder on that tank," Toby pointed to a military tank visibly behind Paige and then folded his arms perceptibly, "nothing too terrible happened." He leaned closer to Paige and whispered, "I personally think she bruised her ego more than her shoulder, but that's just me."

"How bad _is_ your shoulder, Happy?" Walter, standing right next to Paige, asked the mechanic quickly so he could assess this new, unexpected information.

"Doc says I dislocated it; won't be able to do much with it right now." Happy groaned loudly. "This sucks!"

"So…," Walter looked around the field, "where's the aircraft?"

Toby pointed to a circular capsule hanging underneath a carrier chopper. "There."

"What…," Paige's eye twitched, probably thinking the same thing as Walter, "the hell is that?"

"It's basically the air force's version of a hot air balloon – minus the balloon." Toby shrugged nonchalantly, "The capsule looking thing will be what intercepts the satellite. It drops up to five hundred feet below the chopper, giving an ample amount of space needed to stop that SOB. The capsule is able to carry up to two people inside of it, and the carrier kind of acts like a drone; it's manned from an operating system on base."

"Okay. Sounds… like it could work." Walter muttered as he examined the capsule. "How does the capsule land?"

"The capsule can be automatically lifted into the body of the carrier before the whole thing makes its descent." Cabe said as he circled around Walter and folded his arms casually in front of him. "You said small, O'Brien; that's the smallest working aircraft they've got."

"But…," Happy caught both of Walter's and Paige's attentions and dramatically added, "there's a little bit of a catch…."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Walter couldn't believe what he was hearing. Absolutely insane! Walter, the king of crazy stunts, thought Happy's theory was completely and utterly ludicrous! For many long seconds, he gawked at Happy while processing everything she had said. "So, you're telling me, that once the signal is transmitted from inside the cockpit of that… that _thing_ ," he pointed to the capsule, "I will have to climb out of the hollow and hang on the side of the aircraft – which would be thousands of feet above land – until the satellite is properly detained?"

"No plan is perfect," Happy pressed her lips together and shrugged.

"If it makes you feel any better, you'll have a few sets of link hooks you could use to hook onto the net draping over the capsule. That way, if you accidentally slip, at least you'd be dangling in the air instead going airborne." Toby mused, but he didn't make Walter feel any better.

Walter usually didn't get scared off too easy, but even _this_ plan was almost impossible for him. It would be one thing if both of his hands were usable, but only being able to hold onto the side of the capsule with one good hand was not ideal to him.

But he didn't have much time to think things over.

"Okay, fine." He sighed loudly. "If this is what needs to be done, then ... I'll do it."

"Hang on. Before anybody does anything crazy around here," Paige stepped up and placed her hands on her hips, "How the hell is the transmitter's going to communicate with the satellite anyway?"

"After Sylvester downloaded the diagnostics, Director Pulaski and I were able to design a transmitter custom to the makings of the satellite." Walter glanced at Paige and paused to see if she had any questions. When she raised an eyebrow, he continued. "The transmitter, itself, will be manned by NASA at the lab. What I have," he pulled out the small USB transceiver from his pocket, "will hook into the capsule's system, allowing it to emit a signal – kind of serving as a satellite dish for the satellite. Once the satellite locks in on the signal, it'll redirect its course towards the aircraft. Once it gets close enough, the transmitter's signal will prompt the satellite to slow down substantially. Hopefully and without error, it'll slow down fast enough to secure itself into the cockpit."

"So how do we know that thing's gonna work?" Cabe asked, his worried expression matching Paige's.

"We don't." Walter, Toby and Happy answered quickly. "This… all of this…," The 197 IQ genius added, "is a shot in the dark."

"How comforting…." Cabe mumbled and massaged his temples.

"Now… once I set up the transceiver," Walter looked to Toby, "tell the control team I'll be ready to take off."

"Yup. You got it," Toby gave Walter a thumb's up before sprinting off to find the general.

As Walter turned on his heels to make his way to the ladder leading up to the cockpit, Paige grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Hang on just a minute."

"Why?"

"You can't go by yourself. You're still recovering from your injuries, remember?" Paige pointed to Walter's hand brace. "You're going to need an extra hand."

"I'll be fine," Walter lightly chuckled, but Paige did not laugh with him. "Paige; I'll be okay."

"No, you won't." Paige lowered her grip to his hand and squeezed his fingers. "You heard what Toby and Happy said; as soon as that transmitter does its thing, you're going to have to hold onto the side of the capsule for dear life until the satellite is secured. With your right hand in such a delicate condition, there's no way you'll be able to climb out of the cockpit in time."

"Well," Walter hated when she was right, "unless there's a willing citizen crazy enough to help, we're out of options. Happy can't because of her shoulder, Toby needs to be down here for extra medical support and Cabe," he lowered his voice, "is not cut out for something this intense."

"What about me?" Paige uttered. The question was out before she could stop herself. She cleared her throat and restated her question with more conviction and confidence. "What about me, Walter?"

"No way," he shook his head. "Not happening."

"Why not? It's the most efficient option available!" She hated using his favorite word against him, but she needed him to be okay with her decision. They were running out of time.

"I don't care," Walter whispered harshly before inhaling a deep breath and clenching his teeth. He grumbled to himself as he pulled her away from the others. He waited a few seconds before speaking. "You can't go, Paige," Walter lowered his voice to make sure only _Paige_ was listening. "You can't go because I can't be responsible if something… _anything_ happened up there."

"Walter," Paige linked her fingers with Walter's fingers and brought the back of his hand to her lips. "This is _my_ decision. Not yours. If anyone had to be responsible for anything, it would be me."

"No," he groaned, "you're not… you're not understanding what I'm saying." She opened her mouth to say something, but Walter, once again, pulled her further away from the team, this time, behind the aircraft. When they stopped, he had her almost pinned against the capsule. "Paige," he leaned close, "If something was to happen up there and I could have prevented it by having you stay _here_ , I would never be able to forgive myself. And I don't… I don't think I'd be able to process… it… well. Perhaps not at all."

Paige brought her soft palm to his cheek and smiled, "Nothing's going to happen."

He touched his forehead against hers and closed his eyes as his left hand found her rosy cheek. "How can you be so sure?"

Paige boldly stepped up on her toes and pressed a gentle, sweet kiss over Walter's mouth. "Because," she kissed him again, "I believe in us."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

Let me know what you think! I had fun writing this chapter! :D


	5. Part 5

**WriterFreak001:**

As stated before, I will resume writing _Poaching_ after _Just a Kiss_ is completed. :)

* * *

 ****IMPORTANT NOTE:**

If you did not read my TUMBLR or TWITTER announcement, I want you to know that the previous chapter (chapter 4) has been revised substantially. Normally, I don't change too much when I revise my chapters, but I didn't like the ending to Chapter 4 so, among various grammatical and some quote changes, the ending is very different. I highly suggest rereading the fourth chapter before reading the fifth.

Thanks!

* * *

 **Title** | Just a Kiss

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Just something I cooked up after watching the first Scorpion S2 promo. :)

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated T for romantic themes. Enough said.

 **POV** | Omniscient Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **BEFORE YOU READ CHAPTER 5, PLEASE READ THE IMPORTANT NOTE AT THE TOP IN CASE YOU SKIPPED IT.**

* * *

 **Just a Kiss**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part 5**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

"I don't like this one bit," Cabe muttered, placing his palm over Walter's shoulder as the genius, after slipping on a winter jacket, started climbing up the ladder towards the entrance of the capsule. "Are you sure this is the only way to kick that satellite's ass?"

Walter pursed his lips and nodded visibly. "Unfortunately." As much as Walter loved action and certain adventures, flying in a capsule, being steered by a drone plane and then dangling over thousands of feet beneath him did not particularly make him very excited. In fact, if there was any _other_ solution, he'd be the first to sign up, but due to the highly sensitive and greatly perilous situation as well as a time constraint, he had no other choice. The fact that Paige was also coming with him did not sit well either.

"Then you better do a damn hell of a job, kid." Cabe squeezed Walter's shoulder and pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. "I've got no plans of dying today."

"Cabe," Walter lowered his voice as he spotted Paige coming out of one of the buildings and making her way towards the aircraft, "Could you do me a favor and keep Ralph safe while we're gone? I know Paige, despite her overly-strange level of confidence and courage, would greatly appreciate it, and I would too."

Cabe softly smiled and dropped his hand from Walter's shoulder. "Consider it done."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

As Paige – who was also dressed in a winter jacket – hustled to the ladder, Walter started his ascent. He climbed up to the hatch, pulled it open and dropped inside to prepare for the takeoff. Paige, who was unusually calm about everything, gave Toby and Cabe hugs and then settled for a high-five from Happy before following Walter into the cockpit.

Cabe, still unnerved about the whole game plan, looked at the capsule as Walter closed and secured the hatch. As the drone lifted off of the ground, pulling the capsule along with it, Cabe released the breath he was holding and suppressed every ounce of his worry, needing to believe that everything was going to be all right. "Godspeed, Walter and Paige. Godspeed to you both."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

They've been waiting for hours, the carrier drone circling above them, keeping their capsule relatively in the same area as the anticipated path of the satellite. Walter, who was better at keeping his nerves in check, constantly checked with NASA and Homeland to make sure there weren't any unexpected changes in their plan, while Paige, whose small spark of courage and confidence started wavering, remained seated in her armchair and tried not to think about the fact that they were thousands of feet in the air.

If anything went wrong – anything at all – she and Walter were done for. "I forgot to ask, but," Paige ran her fingers through her hair and paused as Walter turned his attention to her, "does this thing have parachutes?"

"Wouldn't matter if it did," Walter answered matter-of-factly. "At this height, with or without parachutes, if we were to fall towards Earth, we'd have a greater chance of freezing to death or dying from hypoxia than from falling." He paused and then mumbled, "That is, if the satellite doesn't kill us first…."

Paige gulped and released a shaky breath. "Oh. Okay."

"But… that's only if we fail," Walter suddenly added after recognizing his sensitive response. Instead of telling Paige the _real_ statistics, he went for a higher, believable number in hopes of making her feel better despite how horrible it felt to spit out a fake figure for her. "If it's any consolation to you," Walter pursed his lips and feigned a smile, "we have a 53% chance of success. The odds are on our side."

Before Paige could respond, Sylvester, from the comm, chimed in and said, "Actually, Walter, your odds are lower than that. There's a 28% chance you'll succeed… not 53."

Paige frowned at Walter as he closed his eyes, sighed and held his tongue. "Thank you, Sylvester."

"No p-problem." The human calculator sputtered through the speakers and then, as though he realized his error, said, "Did I say something wrong again?"

"Yes." / "No." Walter and Paige answered in unison, but as Paige glared at the genius, he scratched his temple, cleared his throat and corrected himself. "No, Sylvester. You said nothing wrong."

"Oh good," Sylvester sighed. Both Walter and Paige could imagine the man dramatically wiping his brow. "That's a relief."

Walter, without hesitation, muted the comm system so that no one on NASA's end could hear them. If there was a problem, they'd be able to hear NASA and would respond if needed. Walter, who was greatly agitated with Sylvester for obliviously pointing out his lie, just didn't want to handle any of Sylvester's side commentary right now.

After several, prolonged seconds of silence, each second feeling like a ripple of eternity, Paige – who refused to look at Walter – stared at the manual controls in front of her (made for emergency landing, she guessed) and mumbled, "You lied to me."

Walter, not wanting to disappoint her again, buttoned his lips.

Paige didn't appreciate the silence and approached the subject differently. "Why did you lie to me, Walter?"

Walter also avoided eye contact and stared out the window in front of him. Eventually, he said, "I didn't want to."

"Then why?" Paige asked, wanting nothing more to understand the mind behind the lie. One of the things she loved about Walter was that he had never lied to her; he was always blunt and forthcoming about anything and everything, never missing a beat to tell someone something loaded with a bunch of facts floating inside that wonderful mind of his. She had never had to worry about him lying to her because he was a man of facts; sure, there were things he opted not to tell her at times, but, until five minutes ago, he had never lied to her. No matter what his reasons were, him lying to her hurt her more than she expected and certainly more than she was willing to show Walter.

Walter inhaled a deep breath, let it out slowly and scratched the side of his face. "I wanted to make you feel better…. Knowing what the _actual_ odds are, I knew you wouldn't react very well. You're already nervous – much more than you're letting on. I, for reasons I don't even understand yet, wanted to lessen your anxieties… give you one thing less to worry about."

"Walter," Paige stood up, turned until she was standing in front of him and bent down to touch his cheeks with her palms, forcing him to meet her eyes. "I," she bit her lip, "I appreciate your desire to make me feel better, but you don't need to lie to me in the process. I'm a big girl and can handle the hard facts, no matter how unpleasant they might be. I know," she boldly straddled his lap, bringing both of them dangerously closer, "I know lying is a rarity for you, but," her thumbs caressed the smooth skin under his eyes, "don't make a habit of it – even if your intentions seem pure in the moment." She loosely weaved her hands through his hair before grazing her fingertips along the sides of his face. "Okay?"

"Okay…." He closed his eyes as she pressed her forehead to his, and allowed himself to feel the precarious, almost unbearable sensations jolting throughout his body as she touched him. God, he wanted more…. More of this… more of everything he was feeling… more of her….

Her fingers then cradled the back of his head as she gently leaned forward and passionately kissed his mouth. If Paige Dineen was going to die today, she wanted to spend as much of what could be her last day with Walter as boldly as she could. She let out a small gasp as surprisingly strong arms wrapped around her back and brought her impossibly closer to the man she was kissing. Tongues touched slowly and deliberately as their lips molded perfectly together, neither one of them wanting to stop kissing… to stop touching… holding… caressing… lov—

"SATALLITE IS APPROACHING! TRANSMITTING SIGNAL NOW!"

Almost instantly, Paige jumped off of Walter, and the genius unmuted the comm device, grabbed the speaker-mic and confirmed hearing NASA's announcement. Walter, with mic still in hand, climbed up the ladder to the hatch and told Paige to hold onto something as he opened the door. She sat down in a seat and buckled herself in as Walter hooked all three of his link hook to a grab-handle next to the hatch for as an extra safety precaution. With his left hand, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, instantly gabbing onto his lanyards until the carrier above switched to hovering mode and steadied itself.

When he was sure it was okay to climb out of the capsule, he instructed Paige to go ahead and hook her link hooks to the other grab-handle and made sure to tell her to alternate the faces of the hooks as an extra safety precaution. Walter suppressed his fear, unhooked his link hooks one by one, locked them onto one of grip-handles on the outside of the aircraft and carefully climbed down the side of the capsule, grabbing onto the net once he was dangling over the side.

Paige – after taking a second to compose herself – slowly did the same, repeating every move Walter had made until she was right next to him. "Now what?" Paige asked the genius as he secured his broken hand around her. He didn't really know why he did it, but since his right hand was useless, he figured he could at least protect Paige a little bit more with it.

Walter hooked the speaker mic through another handle-bar above him to make sure both he and Paige could hear any announcements made by NASA or the Air Force. "Now," Walter shouted over the winds, "Now we look out for the satellite and hope it doesn't kill us!"

"Well," Paige matched the loudness in Walter's voice, "if we're going to die today, then you should probably know some things, yeah?!"

"I don't think it's efficient to have this conversation now!" Walter hollered towards Paige. "We need to keep our entire focus on the satellite and anticipate its course!"

"What?!" Paige could barely understand him. "What did you say?!"

"I said: we shouldn't be having this conversation right now!" Walter yelled louder. Paige only heard bits and pieces this time.

"You want to have this conversation now?!"

"Huh!?" Walter's ears were plugging up. "Can you repeat that?!"

Seeing their yelling was getting them nowhere, Paige sighed. "Never mind!"

"I still can't understand what you're saying, Paige!" Walter shouted, growing frustrated that he couldn't make sense of what the beautiful woman next to him was trying to say.

Paige bit her lip and inwardly groaned before filling up her diaphragm to project her voice. "I said: Never mind!"

"Oh." Walter finally heard her, "Okay."

Paige turned and stared straight at the aircraft in front of her; she refused to look down, and she felt a little awkward looking at Walter. She closed her eyes and touched her forehead to the cool metal, needing something, _anything_ , to cool down her heated face. Not even the gusting winds or the freezing air could stop her from flushing so much.

Several seconds slowly passed between them. Paige was running out of time; the satellite could fall towards them at any moment and kill both of them in seconds; she didn't know how much time she had left on this world and wanted, no, _needed_ to make the most of it. "Walter," she turned to face the genius, "I need to tell you something!"

"Tell me what?!" Walter, still shouting, asked Paige, highly curious to hear what she had to say.

"I think I'm in l—," she started to yell before a roaring rumble ripped through the sky, demanding their attention. Both Walter and Paige snapped their heads towards the now-visible satellite heading straight towards them and braced for impact.

…

This could be the _end_ of their everything.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

I expect one more chapter left, my lovelies. :)

Please keep and mind that this is my imagination; I have no idea if the events of this chapter – mainly the action-sequence events – is realistic. It seems plausible to me, and I have asked my grandpa (who is a retired Major General from the Air Force) and my dad (a retired Lt. Colonel from the Air Force) about some things I wasn't sure of, and they helped me out a little. Let's just say… they know their schtuff. :3

Let me know what you think! I know this chapter was relatively short, but who said brevity was a bad thing? ;)


	6. Part 6

**WriterFreak001:**

Sorry for the delay. Yesterday was insanely busy, and FFN was being a buttmunch.

Good news: NO REVISIONS TO READ! :)

* * *

 **Title** | Just a Kiss

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Just something I cooked up after watching the first Scorpion S2 promo. :)

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated T for romantic themes. Enough said.

 **POV** | Omniscient Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Just a Kiss**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part 6**

 **~ SCORPION ~**

" _Thank you, Kelly. You won't believe this, but this afternoon could have gone very differently for thousands of people had it not been for the bravery of two dauntless individuals working with the government. Get this. News of a Russian satellite heading towards southern California was leaked several hours ago, and while there was a mild bit of panic throughout the state, everything is now under control. Once again, we owe our lives to the courageous efforts of Walter O'Brien, CEO of Scorpion, and we also want to thank his personal trainer, Paige Dineen, for their valiant work today. If it wasn't for them, America could have been hearing a different, more tragic story right about now."_

Walter groaned dramatically as he turned off the TV and tossed the remote onto his desk. "I said 'personal _translator_ ,' _not_ 'trainer.'" He frowned and turned towards the team quietly sitting in front of the monitor, dreading what might follow. He gulped. "You guys aren't going to shun me for the next 24 hours, are you?"

"Well…," Toby was the first to respond, "I guess it's not your fault they neglected a few details from the initial interview…."

"Yeah," Happy hopped off of the center table and crossed her arms in front of her. "And it's not your fault the anchor can't hear correctly, either."

"Yep. Just a translation error." Toby couldn't help it. "Well, _technically_ , it's a _translator_ error."

"Other than a few mishaps," Sylvester eventually chimed in, "I thought the piece was highly exceptional. Nicely done, Walter." The human calculator smiled widely before turning to Paige. "You too, Paige."

Paige grinned, but didn't say anything. She was still trying to process the fact Walter had told the anchor she was his _personal_ translator. While things did get a little lost in translation, no pun intended, she flushed at the thought of being Walter's personal _anything_. She would've expected him to say she was the _company's_ translator, but based on his little comment a minute ago, he obviously didn't.

And that thought alone made Paige's heart swell with giddiness.

While lost in thought, she didn't notice Sylvester and Happy heading for their desks, nor did she notice Toby's eyes watching her from a distance. What she _did_ notice, however, was Walter's arm brushing against her back as he walked behind her on his way to the kitchen. She wasn't sure if it was on accident or on purpose, but she really didn't care.

His touch alone gave her so many goosebumps.

Discreetly, she slid off of the table and followed Walter into the kitchen, only to _accidentally_ caress the back of his arm while reaching for a mug. Walter noticed her _mistake_ almost immediately and sent her a rare, genuine smile that instantly made her toes curl and her stomach churn; she couldn't help but smile back. "Let's talk later, okay?" Paige discreetly covered the back of Walter's left hand with hers and squeezed his fingers twice before letting them go. "Cabe is going to watch Ralph tonight. After everyone leaves, we'll have some privacy to talk about some things."

Walter curtly nodded and handed Paige the mug she had forgotten to grab. "Sounds good."

"Good." Paige grinned, tempted to step up and kiss his cheek but settled for another short hand-squeeze. "Now I'm going to the loft to check on Ralph."

"Okay." Walter flashed her another smile as she walked away from him towards the stairs but frowned immediately as Toby waltzed into the kitchen. He spun around on his heels and pretended to be busy by pouring a fresh pot of coffee into his favorite mug. "I'm not in the mood, Toby."

"Mood for what?"

"For your games." Walter said too quickly. "It's late… it's been a long day… and I just don't have the capacity to listen to your psychobabble."

"Fine. I'll keep things simple." Toby shrugged and leaned against the counter. "So. You and Paige. What's going on there?"

Walter stopped what he was doing for a split-second but quickly recovered. "Nothing's going on."

Toby knew the genius was lying but decided to approach the topic from a different angle. "So, you two talk about the incident at the hospital, yet?"

"No."

"Liar." Toby frowned and folded his arms in front of him. Walter glared at the shrink, but Toby pressed forward. "The moment I mentioned the kiss at the – you see! You did it again!" Toby exclaimed, pointing at Walter's mouth.

"Did what?"

Toby smirked. "Licked your lips."

Walter crossed his arms defensively and leaned against the counter. "My lips are dry."

"Wrong!" Toby buzzed loudly as Walter picked up his mug and started making his way to his desk. Toby followed. "If your lips were dry, you would have been licking you lips throughout the day; however," Toby chuckled, "only when I mentioned the smoochy-smooches do you – you're doing it again." Toby was having way too much fun with this. "While licking your lips _can_ be a symptom of dry lips, that is _certainly_ not the case for you, bro." At Walter dramatically rolling his eyes, Toby continued. "For you, my man, licking your lips is a subconscious reaction triggered by something deliciously pleasant," the shrink smirked. "And since _Paige_ is the topic of this discussion, I'm going to guess and say that you two did _more_ than just _talk_ it out."

Walter quietly swallowed the lump in his throat and feigned annoyance. "Paige and I are just friends."

"Sorry, but," Toby shook his head and laughed, "A friend doesn't _just_ kiss a friend on the lips when he's incapacitated on a hospital bed."

"Your point?"

"My point," Toby smirked ear to ear, "my point is… Paige has the hots for you, and you have the hots for Paige. If you didn't you'd be disappointed with her for sexually assaulting you in the hospital." Toby almost paused to point out Walter licking his lips again but quickly moved on. "But you aren't. And the two of you were all comfy cozy a few minutes ago. Don't think I didn't see her squeezing your hand back there."

"P-Paige is a very tactile person," Walter sputtered, "Using touch to communicate has always been her thing. You know that."

"Yes," Toby shrugged and cocked his chin a little, "but you used to freeze any time she touched you. You didn't even flinch."

Walter inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly, cursing Toby and his damn observation skills. Before he could summon a believable reply, he spotted Paige descending the stairs, looking impossibly more stunning and beautiful than she did before she left. Toby did _not_ miss the goo-goo eyes she was giving 197.

Toby suddenly had an idea. "Miss Dineen," he sprung away from Walter and pranced over to Paige. "Mind answering a possibly uncomfortable question for me? Sharing _is_ caring, after all."

"Don't do it," Happy chimed in from afar. "The doc has a hidden agenda; I just know it."

"Happy's hunch is 78% plausible," Sylvester clapped his hands together and cracked his knuckles. "Unless you want your deepest souls dragged out from underneath your feet, I highly suggest you _don't_ answer Toby's question."

Paige laughed and combed her fingers through her hair. "It's okay, guys. I'm sure Toby's question isn't too bad."

"Whatever," Happy sighed as she grabbed her bags and headed for the door. "I tried to help." She turned quickly and looked at Sylvester. "If you want a ride, Sly, then hurry on out. If not, then I guess I'll see you," and then she looked at Walter, Toby and Paige, "and everyone else tomorrow."

"I think I'm gonna pass, Happy!" Sylvester called out to her, remembering the last few times he had been in a car with her behind the wheel. He had sworn he'd never ride with Happy again; she would most likely cut his lifespan in half with the way she drives.

"Before you guys get into whatever pending argument you're about to endure," Cabe spoke quietly as he carried Ralph in his arms and slowly made his way over to the door as well, "I'm taking the kid home with me. Sly," Cabe glanced at the human calculator, "you coming?"

Sylvester smiled. "Yep. Coming."

"I'll be out in the car, then." Cabe nodded towards the door, and Walter was the first to jump up to his feet and help Cabe with Ralph. Paige waltzed over to her sleeping son and kissed him on the forehead before ruffling his hair and poking his nose. She whispered how much she loved him before sending him off with Cabe. She had to smile as she watched Walter take Ralph in his arms and carry the boy to Cabe's car.

Toby found Paige's little daze the _perfect_ time to intervene.

"So, Paige," Toby's smile stretched across his lips as he walked over to her and hovered over her shoulder.

"Hm?"

"Is Walter a good kisser?"

Paige, unaware of what the shrink had said, absentmindedly muttered, " _Oh, absolutely_."

Toby almost danced in response to her answer. "Why _thank_ you, Miss Dineen. Much obliged."

As the behaviorist skipped to his desk with a huge grin dancing on his lips, Paige turned around and blinked. "I'm sorry, Toby, did you say something?"

"Nope. Not at all." Toby had to bite his bottom lip to keep himself from grinning so much. "Thank you for saving the day today, Lady Liaison." Toby tipped his hat after throwing his satchel over his shoulder, " _I_ will see you in the morning."

Paige blinked as the shrink left the garage, wondering what she'd said to him. He didn't even ask her his question….

Oh well.

He could just ask her tomorrow.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

After Walter helped Cabe with Ralph, the super genius made his way back into the garage, pleased to find that Toby had left for the night. He strolled over to Paige, who was busy with some paperwork, and hovered over her shoulder.

"Does that paperwork need to be finished tonight?" Walter asked as he quickly and quietly scanned over the file in front of her, wondering if there was a way he could help (even if he didn't particularly _like_ paperwork).

"No…, not really," Paige laughed as she threw her head backwards to find Walter staring intently at her. Oh, the things those beautiful, deep brown eyes did to her! She shook off her thoughts, and smiled, "I just like to get things done a little early; that's all."

"Okay," Walter nodded, stepping away from her. "I'll leave you to finish it then."

"Wait," Paige grabbed his arm and giggled, pulling him back towards her. "Just because I like to overachieve a little bit," she pushed herself out of her chair and hooked her arms around Walter's neck, "it doesn't mean I have to complete everything in one night."

"If it needs to get done, then…"

"…then I'll save it to be tomorrow's problem." Paige playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Problem solved."

"Easier said, than done." Walter mumbled under his breath, causing her to laugh.

She closed the manila folder and slid it into a drawer. "There. Looks like there's no more paperwork on my desk," she winked and circled her arms around his waist, pulling him closer to her. "Ready to go upstairs?"

Walter nodded, not catching what her statement _could_ have meant. "Yeah."

"Good." Paige eagerly laced their hands together and pulled him up the steps.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Paige had Walter pinned to the sofa and was kissing him like no tomorrow. Her palms were holding his face, her body was almost perfectly aligned with his and her heart soared in thousands of directions as Walter dipped his fingertips underneath her blouse. The feel of his warm fingers pressing against the small of her back sent shivers up and down her spine, giving her more drive to kiss him fervently.

And the more she kissed him, the more he kissed her. There were things Walter simply could not quantify or make sense of, and Paige, in all of her beauty, made him feel things he never thought existed. For the first time in his life, he actually believed he could have something good… something amazing and absolutely beautiful, and Paige was everything he could have dreamed of… and more. She had so much passion behind each and every one of their kisses, and he didn't want whatever tonight would bring to stop.

After long, surreal minutes passed, Walter inched away from her and muttered, "I thought you wanted us to talk."

"We are talking," she mumbled into his ear before nibbling on his lobe.

The world nearly obscured around him as her lips feathered kisses along his jawline, but he somehow managed to push his thoughts through. "No," he shook his head slowly, "This," he pointed to the way their hips were hugging each other, "This isn't talking."

"Maybe not the kind of talking you're used to," Paige smiled and curled her fingers through his hair, "but it's definitely talking."

"So," Walter cocked an eyebrow, "when you said you wanted to come up here to talk earlier, you were speaking in code?"

"Precisely," a smirk colored Paige's lips. "It's not like I could have phrased it any differently with people in the garage."

"True…"

Paige pressed her lips against his again and kissed him hard on the mouth. Walter, in response, wrapped his left arm around her waist and held her as close to him as possible before hoisting her up into his arms and carrying her to his bed.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

As Paige slept peacefully on top of him, Walter couldn't help but watch her sleep. She was beyond beautiful. Incredible in every sense of the word. Walter never classified anything as perfect, but Paige, in every way, was flawless in his eyes. After she stirred against him and then stretched her body out like a cat, she greeted him with a long, loving kiss. "?

"Good morning," she kissed his nose and then his lips again. "How'd you sleep?"

"Best sleep I've had in months," Walter grinned, warranting another kiss from Paige.

"Same," her lips grew into a grin as she leaned down to kiss him.

Walter counted ten seconds – which seemed appropriate – before pulling away from her lips to ask her something. "Paige?"

"Hm?" she started drawing imaginary circles on his chest. "What is it?"

"Earlier… you said you kissed me at the hospital because it was some sort of aftereffect of your emotions being on overdrive… that it was meaningless… Were you just saying that because you were embarrassed… or… uh…," he couldn't really think of another kind of expression, "something else?"

"Yes and no," Paige spoke softly without looking at him. "Yes, I was embarrassed, and I was trying to fish for an excuse to explain why I kissed you, but it wasn't meaningless… and it wasn't altogether a result of a stressful day." She raked her fingers through Walter's curly hair and sweetly smiled. "I kissed you in the hospital because I wanted to. I wanted to, in my own way, apologize to you for being such an idiot the night before. It wasn't meant to be creepy or anything…, but I meant the kiss just as much as I meant everything I said to you that night." She finally found his eyes and added, "I guess you could say the kiss was sort of my way of sealing a personal promise I made... to, uh, to never leave you or Scorpion again."

"Oh," Walter frowned suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Paige wasn't sure if she should laugh and slap his shoulder or be seriously concerned with his reaction. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Huh?" Walter blinked. "No." He cupped her cheek. "It's not that."

"Then what?"

He hesitated for a moment before eventually saying, "I just wish I was awake for it."

Paige giggled and smirked as she leaned forward to kiss him, "The hospital kiss was just a kiss, Walter." She touched her forehead to his and muttered, "And don't be disappointed," she grinned wickedly, "I'm not done with you yet." And before Walter could say anything, Paige grabbed his cheeks with her palms and kissed him fervidly on the mouth. _Not done by a longshot._

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

Sorry this is late. I had a few unexpected delays today, and I would have posted it sooner, but I didn't like the original draft so I started it over. :) Hopefully the ending is to your liking. :) Let me know what you think!

I know this will probably NOT happen in the premiere, but hey, that's what FanFiction is for. ;)

PS. I wrote this to like 1 am in the morning soooo forgive me if there were any writing errors.


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